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A/B and Multivariate Testing for Emails

See what works best

Mailchimp takes the guesswork out of creating campaigns people click on. A/B and multivariate testing let you try things out and pick a winner.

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Testing

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Get to know your fans

Learn more about your people by sending tests to certain audience segments. Try out different subject lines, images, layouts, and send times to see what’s working best.

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You decide the finish line

Pick what determines success for your campaign—whether it’s clicks, opens, or revenue—and we’ll help you see which email is the clear winner.

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Get smarter with your marketing

As you learn more, you can adjust your campaigns to reach your goals faster. Our research shows that e-commerce businesses who use revenue as their test metric typically earn 20% more from their emails.

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“It’s not always obvious what’s going to resonate best with our customers, but with Mailchimp, we’ve been able to identify a strategy that doubled our engagement and revenue.”

Wombi Rose, co-founder of Lovepop
See his approach to A/B testing

How to test a campaign

  • You can test subject lines, content, from names, and send times, as well as how many people will receive your test emails.

    A/B Testing Campaign options with Subject Lines selected.

  • Create your test campaigns by editing the variables and then choose the metric that defines success, whether it’s clicks, opens, or revenue.

    Email preferences showing success defined by open rate after 4 hours.

  • We’ll gather results of your test and once there’s a clear winner, Mailchimp can automatically send out the winning campaign.

    Summary of test campaign with a winning campaign highlighted.
A/B Testing Campaign options with Subject Lines selected.
Email preferences showing success defined by open rate after 4 hours.
Summary of test campaign with a winning campaign highlighted.
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Start out with A/B testing

With our A/B testing feature, you can test up to 3 variations for your campaign and build a strategy that works for you.

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Go pro with multivariate testing

Upgrade to our Premium plan to craft perfect emails with multivariate testing. You can test up to 8 campaign variations in one go and send better emails every time.

Learn about our pricing plans

Want to learn more about testing? We can help with that.

FAQs

  • It’s easy to conduct A/B testing in Mailchimp. To get started, create an email campaign like you normally would, select A/B Test when prompted, and choose the audience or contact segment you want.

    You’ll then move on to the Variables step, so you can decide what you want to test. Our email A/B testing tools allow you to test subject lines, from names, content, and send times, and each variable can have three variations. For example, if you want to find out the best time to send emails, you can select Send time and choose three different times to test. You’ll also have to decide what percentage of your recipients will receive test emails.

    With Mailchimp, you can allow us to automatically send the best performing email to your remaining contacts, or you can do this yourself manually.

  • A/B testing can be intimidating for many marketers and small business owners, but you can find success with the right tools and information. The first step is to determine your goal. Whether you want to conduct newsletter A/B testing or test promotional campaigns, knowing your goal ensures you can focus on the correct metrics.

    Our email A/B testing tool allows you to test subject lines, content, from names, and send times. You can even run newsletter multivariate tests. After determining your goal, you can segment your audience, update your testing preferences on Mailchimp, and start testing.

  • A/B testing in Mailchimp allows you to send email campaigns to different customers to understand your audience's preferences. Not only can this boost opens and clicks, but it can also lead to more sales. Our A/B testing email platform provides you with the tools to experiment and find what works best for you and your customers. Plus, all of our A/B testing tools for email are easy to use, so there’s no steep learning curve to tackle.

  • A/B testing is essential for every business because it can provide insights into what campaigns are working and which ones need fine-tuning. In many cases, A/B testing requires sending slightly different emails to your audience and gauging their performance. This way, you can determine the best subject lines and the type of content your contacts want to see.

    Ultimately, A/B testing empowers you to get to know your audience, tailor your marketing efforts to specific segments, and encourage contacts to engage with your brand. Email A/B testing platforms and multivariate testing tools can help you achieve this goal with ease.

  • To run an effective A/B test, we recommend having at least 5,000 subscribed contacts. However, you can still use A/B testing tools for emails on a smaller audience to learn more about their preferences.

Set up your first A/B test

Have 20 minutes? You have time to perfect your next campaign.

Create A Test

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